George Tyrwhitt: A true eccentric of the Raj
30 May 2016
'Turwutt came to Nagar Parker at the head of an army in 1858 when Rana Karan Singh ruled over the place. A great battle was fought here in which the English were roundly defeated and had to flee for their lives. The Rajputs went in pursuit, and Turwutt was only able to get away with his life after a Meghwar tanner hid him under a pile of cowhides. Returning subsequently with an even greater army, Turwutt was finally able to overcome the Rajputs of Nagar. And not the one to forget the Meghwar, he allotted him a vast jagir.'
Ali Nawaz Khosa, the elderly teller of tales from Nagar Parker fell silent. The tap-tap-tap of his steel tipped cane on the street became more pronounced. From afar the koel called, the moisture laden monsoon wind gusted down the corridor of the street and the old man sat down in the verandah of the ruined hulk at the west end of the Nagar Parker bazaar. I had never read of any great battle between the British and the Ranas of Nagar, I said.
Read more »Labels: Desert, History, Sindh, Thar
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Deosai: Land of the Giant
27 May 2016
Related: Deosai Truths - Review by F. S. Aijazuddin, Deosai - Review by S A J Shirazi, Special Podcast on BBC Radio
Labels: Books, Deosai, Deosai: Land of the Giant, Nadeem Khawar, Photo Stream, Travel Photography
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Fools that Rule
24 May 2016
Every day one reads something in the papers and cannot but wonder what sort of fools and retards rule the various government agencies that mismanage this blighted land. Today (21 May 2016) I am told, ‘The Lahore Ring Road Authority [LRRA] has made a plan to fix iron fencing at various sections of the road to stop pedestrians from crossing the road and causing accidents.’ (Dawn, Metro section).
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| A small bit of steel fence removed from right in front of a narrow street to give free passage |
We are further informed by the blockheads of LRRA that this effort will ‘force’ pedestrians to use overhead bridges meant for them to cross the road. What country do these idiot shitheads live in?
Labels: Governance, Lahore, Life, Society
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Wide Road Do Not Mean Better Traffic
23 May 2016
This started on Twitter this morning, 20 May 2016. I tweeted something about courtesy and discipline on roads making for better traffic. And that wide roads make no difference at all.
Tweeple discuss this here
But let me add sense of responsibility to courtesy and discipline on the roads. My friends Moazzam (@MoazzamSalim) and Rizwan (@rizwarned) took exception to my assertion. Both of them seriously believe wide roads will make for better traffic. The argument went illogical when, in responding to my tweet about narrow streets in central London being happily unclogged – or largely so, Moazzam said something about population and vehicular density. As well as that, he said, there were not so many different types of vehicles in the West.
Labels: About, Lahore, Life, Society
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Kolpur Railway Station
20 May 2016
Kolpur Railway Station, the highest point in the Bolan Pass
Labels: Photo Stream, Railway, Travel Photography
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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A secret revealed
19 May 2016
If the Soon Valley of Punjab had been in, say, India or Nepal, it would have been overrun by tourists. But in Pakistan, it is like that beautiful but poor woman and the full moon of a winter’s night that Manto said no one appreciates. The valley goes unsung. It remains Punjab’s best kept secret.
When I first ventured into this beautiful, picture perfect place, there were only a couple of roads through the valley. The one leading in from Kallar Kahar split to go either through Sodhi Jaiwali or by way of Jaba; both being incredibly picturesque. The former meandered through a largely uninhabited and forested valley with trees shading the road. The latter from Jaba passed by the lovely sheet of Khabeki Lake.
Read more »Labels: Punjab, Soon Valley
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Map to mountains
18 May 2016
The Aghil Mountains, in 1937 were part of India and were inherited by Pakistan until they were gifted to China by our government in 1963. They went out of my reach, but I resolved to see some of the regions where Shipton and Tilman had been. And so the notion of Burrs was born. The journey was undertaken in the summer of 1990 and it took three months to complete.
Read more »Labels: Books, Travel, Travel Writing
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Water in the Wilderness
14 May 2016
Written by Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib, Richard Garstang and Rina Saeed Khan – all of whom have substantial experience in working and reporting upon environmental matters – the book essentially deals with water issues. However, it is more than that. Water in the Wilderness is a tour de force across the cultures of Makran, through the western lakes of Larkana and into Cholistan. Thence it takes the reader to Deosai, Shimshal, Shandur and Chitral. At the same time, this is an excellent eco-tourist guide.
Read more »Labels: Book Review, Books, Ecology
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Lake Tala Khumbo
10 May 2016
Image from Deosai: Land of the Giant - available at Sang-e-Meel Publications (042-3722-0100), Lahore
Labels: Books, Deosai, Deosai: Land of the Giant, Nadeem Khawar, Photo Stream, Travel Photography
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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The ‘exclusive’ traverse
09 May 2016
First things first. I wrote my requiem last year in August when I wept on the Mintaka Pass in Gojal. I had walked up unfit after a full year of living without a jot of exercise. To add to that, I had developed, right on the first day of the trek, the most horridly lurid blisters on both feet. I wept when I read on the crest of the pass how fit Peter Fleming had felt coming up from the Tashkurghan side. Sono (Rahman) Aunty called to say I had brought tears to her eyes and that I couldn’t give up so quickly. So, even without trying, I did not give up.
This year I returned to Shimshal after twenty years to walk to the summer pasture of Shuwert doing some work for Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. I was not prospecting for oil, though. Back in July 1990, with much less flab on the body and much more hair on the pate, I had done a traverse from Askole to Shimshal by the Biafo-Sim Gang-Braldu glacier system. Having crossed the 5700 metre-high Lukpe La, I became the first Pakistani to have done this traverse.
Labels: Mintaka, Northern Pakistan
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Years of Publications
04 May 2016
Gujranwala: The Glory That Was published [1st ed 1992], [2nd ed] in 2000
Between Two Burrs on the Map: Travels in Northern Pakistan published in 1995
Salt Range and Potohar Plateau published [1st ed 2000], [2nd ed] in 2005
Prisoner on a Bus: Travel Through Pakistan published in 2003
Jhelum: City of the Vitasta published in 2005
Sea Monsters and the Sun God: Travels in Pakistan published in 2006
The Apricot Road to Yarkand published in 2011
All books are available at Sang e Meel (042-3722-0100), Lahore
Labels: Books, Pakistan, Salman Rashid, Travel Literature, Travel Writing, Travels in Pakistan
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:30,
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Flower festivals, anyone?
03 May 2016
My good friend Murtaza Solangi spent some of his long journalistic years in Washington DC. There, he says, he waited through those harsh winters for the cherry blossom to break out on the borders of the lake or pond or whatever that body of water is. He asked me if I had ever seen it, but the nearest I’ve been to DC was when I was briefly in New York three decades ago. It is in May, says Murtaza, that they have their Cherry Blossom Festival, a great binge of gaiety, song, dance, food and drink.
Murtaza says that these trees were gifted to DC by the Japanese emperor at the end of World War I. This is not the fruit-bearing species, just the flowering one and its sole purpose is to bring beauty and colour to the landscape. The Japanese have long had the original cherry blossom festival and when I checked Google, I discovered that several US and Canadian cities now follow the Washington DC model.
Read more »
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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